A very regular conversation I have with ladies contacting me for help, is that they feel they are struggling to lose body fat, while they feel they barely eat anything!
So, let’s talk about this all-too-common occurrence under the female population…
Most ladies have been dieting for years! Jumping from one diet to the next restricted meal plan that only consists of fish, broccoli and grapefruit! You follow it precisely for months, seeing great results and then all of a sudden, a big ugly plateau!
But why? Why do you eat less and less with more restrictions? No carbs, no wine, no sugar, no bread, no chocolate, no pizza or burgers. The list is never-ending! Who can maintain this lifestyle forever? Is it necessary?
Let’s take it from the top. You started with your first diet, did it for a while and lost some weight. Now, what you need to keep in mind, is that with any calorie deficit diet, you will lose some fat but also lean muscle. This is why you should do a diet correctly with appropriate macronutrients and training, to keep as much lean muscle as possible while in a deficit.
So now, after a while you stop making any progress and you go to the next diet or go to more extremes, hoping and wishing to see more progress…but why does nothing happen?
While on a lengthy diet, your NEAT and BMR energy consumption will go down and maybe your EAT as well. In short and sweet, Your NEAT energy is all your usually daily activity, BMR the energy you use just to live and maintain life and your EAT is the energy used when training.
Now when you lose weight, you are smaller, right? Meaning you weigh less or have less body fat and muscle. Your body needs less energy (calories). So, your “maintenance” calorie needs will also decrease, meaning your calorie deficit that you started with is also now smaller. Most times you feel more tired or less active overall on a diet, so the amount of energy you used before, is also now less (NEAT). Your training intensity may also be affected because you feel weaker, and so less energy expenditure there also (EAT).
But one of the biggest adaptations that you go through while on a diet is that your body is trying to decrease the amount of energy it uses, basically to survive. So, your metabolism goes down.
Now, if you stay on a diet for months and even years…you can see where this is going to lead to. Your metabolism goes down, body tries to adapt by lowering activity level (energy expenditure) and also more lean muscle loss. Now ladies, you do not want this! More muscle equals to a higher metabolism, so you want to maintain as much as possible!
So, this is where reverse dieting comes into play. If you experienced this, struggling to lose any body fat while eating less and less, you need to start getting your metabolism healthy again! You need to start eating more…with a steady pace. Tracking your progress!
I know this sounds scary for girls, but it’s the only way you are going to up your metabolism and get your body in a healthy condition again. This can take some time, depending on where you at, but believe me, it will be worth it! Only then, after you have done the reverse dieting and know you are at a good place, can you start with a diet again. But do not stay in a deficit for too long. The optimal way for long-term fat loss and staying healthy is doing cycles. Calorie deficit for a few weeks or couple of months, and then eat at your maintenance or more and focus on training to add those beautiful muscle!
Start by tracking your daily food intake and see how much you are really consuming. Maybe it’s actually more what you think! But if it’s really low, then start adding those calories! Increase your protein intake and start lifting those weights!
Lastly, stop all these restrictions! It’s not necessary and definitely not maintainable! A chocolate bar or slice of bread is NOT going to make you fat, but if you eat 100 of them every day, well then of course this will have an effect but so will 100 apples too!
Check out my UNDERSTANDING NUTRITION program for your Calorie & Macronutrients!
… And to know more about how to do Reverse dieting and lots more, become an GOLD MEMBER today on MARIJKE FITNESS!! Let me help you!
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